Photography comparison shows a snapshot of the past

The technology of today is vastly different from that of the previous century, and it is continually improving. In a world of constant growth and upgrades, people often forget how different things were even a short time ago.

Cameras in particular have changed so much that a camera from today and one from 50 years ago would look like completely different things. Roger Gambatese, a lawyer, provided information regarding how he has personally seen photography change drastically during his lifetime.

“I started out with a little box camera, a brownie I guess it was called. You had to put in the film to take pictures and you had to have the film developed,” Mr. Gambatese said.

Most people today think the word “film” is just a fancy way of saying movie (even though film isn’t used to make movies anymore), but in just the past century it meant something much different. Cameras today are almost exclusively digital, although that wasn’t always the case.

“The big change is you don’t use film anymore, everything is digitized,” Mr. Gambatese said. “Before you had to be much, much more careful.”

Older models of cameras were more basic in functionality than today’s cameras. PHOTO CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons

Millennials today don’t think twice to snapping tens or even hundreds of pictures since they can simply skim through them later, save the cream of the crop and delete the rest. Another difference between early cameras and cameras of today is that pictures from older cameras had to be developed.

Mr. Gambatese wasn’t able to see his pictures immediately after he took them while growing up; they had to be developed. “My father had a place in the basement … where he developed his own negatives. You develop them and then they come out with positive images.”

There has been an immense amount of growth in photography in the last few decades, and it’s interesting to look back to the past and notice the differences. In the near future, youth might be amazed that their parents and grandparents had to use cameras without unlimited storage or infinite zoom, and only time will tell how much photography will advance.